New Delhi: The 1980s are back on social media but this time, artificial intelligence is doing the time travel. What started as a fun trend of turning modern photographs into retro 80s portraits has now found its way into India’s political space, with leaders and party handles from both the BJP and Congress joining the viral wave.
The trend uses AI tools such as ChatGPT to give ordinary photographs an unmistakable 1980s makeover. Old school clothes, sunglasses, hairstyles, faded colours, soft lighting and film grain effects are added to make people look as though their pictures were taken decades ago.
Several BJP leaders have jumped on the trend. Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Kiren Rijiju shared their own retro style AI images, while other prominent BJP figures, including Himanta Biswa Sarma, Anurag Thakur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, also joined the nostalgia wave.
The trend soon crossed party lines. Congress Seva Dal shared AI generated images of Rahul Gandhi in an 80s inspired look, showing him in a suit and enjoying a cup of tea. The Congress side also appeared to use the trend to take a dig at its political rivals.
One post showed a bald man sitting in a Maruti Suzuki Omni with a reference to Gujarat and a message about Delhi. The choice of the Omni was hardly random. The vehicle, launched in India in 1984, became widely associated with the stereotypical kidnapping van in Bollywood films.
The BJP’s Telangana unit responded in a similar fashion, posting an AI generated image of a woman dancing inside a bar and referring to Lusiana in Italy a reference linked to Sonia Gandhi’s birthplace.
Not everyone chose AI for their trip down memory lane. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took a more literal route, sharing genuine photographs from the 1980s featuring himself and his sons.
The sudden political interest in the trend shows just how quickly social media culture can become part of political communication. What begins as a harmless meme or nostalgia challenge can soon become another way for political parties to attract attention, make jokes at an opponent’s expense and reach younger audiences.
For now, the 80s may be trending because of fashion and nostalgia. But in India’s political social media space, the decade has also become the latest backdrop for an old fashioned political rivalry.